Chelsea beat Luton 3-0:
Raheem Sterling ensures Mauricio Pochettino gets his first win
Chelsea sealed the first victory of the season for Pochettino
Raheem Sterling was the star of the game, scoring twice and providing one assist
There are no more poor people in the Premier League. The elite turn everyone into princes that they bless with their broadcast revenue. But it looks like Luton Town is still in ruins as they head to west London on Friday night to tackle the capital’s biggest spenders.
Luton, with an annual salary of £5m, compared with the annual income of Chelsea players of £150m. Luton, whose squad cost £20m to build. Chelsea, who have spent £278 million on midfielders alone in the past seven months.
Luton, whose pitch on Kenilworth Road is a strange anachronism, where the floorboards of the main stand creak, sway and wobble as his side attacks. Chelsea, with extensive properties at Stamford Bridge and operating areas adjacent to King’s Road.
Luton, who had a number of free transfers in their starting lineup on Friday night. Chelsea, who have broken the UK transfer record twice in the last eight months, have spent £900m over the past three transfer windows and offered a £115m deal from Brighton, Moise Caicedo, who will make his home court debut. Luton, fans chanted ‘Conference Champion, you’ll never sing that’ to their Chelsea teammates in the opening minutes. Chelsea, who won the Champions League for the second time two years ago, are full of ambitions to win it again.
If that wasn’t the biggest financial imbalance in Premier League history it should have been tightened. Neutrals everywhere were poised to upset Luton and extend Chelsea’s winless streak from the start of the season to three games. But it wasn’t a night for fairy tales. Rather, it was a night where Chelsea’s 3-0 win gave more indications that Mauricio Pochettino was starting to create at least some seemingly stable order out of the chaos that had left the home fronts. manager of the club since Todd Boehly took over from him, bought from Roman. Abramovich.
It was at least Chelsea’s first win of the season and Pochettino’s first club win. Chelsea are starting from a low position but while this is still not a completely convincing performance, it shows progress. It was like the first step on a journey away from the infamy of last season.
It also provides further evidence of the rebirth of Raheem Sterling, who was once again the best player on the pitch, scoring one goal per half, scoring a third and playing like a striker who was once a brilliant player. England team at the last European Championship. . His first goal was reminiscent of Ricky Villa’s slip for Spurs in the 1981 FA Cup Final replay. It’s been a pleasure to see him back in such form.
Sterling had attracted rave reviews for his performance in Chelsea’s defeat at West Ham last weekend and he nearly opened the scoring in the seventh minute when a Chelsea free kick was headed clear and looped lazily towards him as he stood on the edge of the area.
Sterling met it sweetly on the volley but it hurtled straight at Thomas Kaminski in the Luton goal. It knocked the goalkeeper backwards and off his feet but he managed to hang on to it. Sterling held his head in his hands.
Caicedo’s first contribution to his Chelsea career was inauspicious. He got the ball midway inside his own half, looked up, stumbled, fell over and let the ball run on to Tahith Chong. Chong danced inside a defender and took aim. To Caicedo’s relief, his shot flew wide.
Chelsea kept pressing for an opener. Nicolas Jackson, who worked tirelessly throughout the match, broke forward and when the ball was laid back into the path of Enzo Fernandez, his fierce left foot drive kissed the top of the crossbar on the way over.
It was clear a goal was coming and it was no surprise when it was Sterling who scored it. He had begun where he left off at the London Stadium. Seventeen minutes had gone when he got the ball on the right, danced between Ryan Giles and Ross Barkley, sidestepped Amari’i Bell and side-footed a left foot shot across Kaminski and into the bottom corner.
MATCH FACTS
CHELSEA (3-4-2-1): Sanchez 7; Disasi 7, Silva 7.5, Colwill 7.5; Gusto 8, Fernandez 7.5, Caicedo 7, Chilwell 6.5 (Maatsen 86); Sterling 8.5 (Burstow 92), Gallagher 6.5; Jackson 7.5 (Ugochukwu 83).
Subs not used: Bergstrom, Beach, Cucurella, Madueke, Moreira, Humphreys.
Scorer: Sterling 17, 68, Jackson 75
Booked: Fernandez, Maatsen
Manager: Mauricio Pochettino 7.5
LUTON (3-5-2): Kaminski 6.5; Burke 7 (Andersen 77), Lockyer 6, Bell 6.5; Kabore 7 (Doughty 70, 5.5), Barkley 6 (Ruddock 77), Nakamba 6, Chong 6.5 (Ogbene 77), Giles 6.5; Morris 6.5, Adebayo 6.5 (Brown 70, 5).
Subs not used: Krul, Berry, Woodrow, Johnson
Booked: Lockyer, Nakamba, Brown
Manager: Rob Edwards 6
Referee: Robert Jones 6
Luton, as expected, offered very little going forward. Even what appeared to be their best effort on goal, a near-post header from Barkley from a rare corner two minutes before half-time, turned out to have been nodded over by Ben Chilwell.
Chelsea’s unease in front of goal was underlined four minutes into the second half when Chilwell burst into the box and found himself ten yards out with only Kaminski to beat. To the exasperation of the fans, Chilwell hesitated and tried to pass the ball square to Sterling. It was promptly cleared by a Luton defender and the stadium groaned its disappointment.
The home side did come close to grabbing a second ten minutes after the interval when Sterling turned provider and slid the ball across the face of goal for Fernandez at the far post. Fernandez met it well but his shot cannoned off the outside of the post and away to safety.
Luton carved out their best chance of the game so far soon after that. The ball was worked cleverly across the face of the Chelsea box by Elijah Adebayo until it reached Giles unmarked just inside the area. Giles’ shot was on target but it was half-blocked by Malo Gusto and spun up into the air where it was claimed by Robert Sanchez.
Chelsea got the goal their domination deserved in the end, though. Inevitably, it was Sterling again. Caicedo, who had had a quiet game, played the ball out to the right, Gusto played it into the box and Sterling swept it home from near the penalty spot. Relief mixed with exultation at the Bridge.
Chelsea scored a superb third 15 minutes from time when Sterling ran on to a high ball over the top of the Luton defence down the right. Sterling let the ball drop and then drove it first time into the box. It took a slight deflection off a defender and that deflection diverted it perfectly into the path of Jackson who stretched out a foot to prod it past Kaminski, his first goal for the club.
At the final whistle, Luton’s fans sang about their hopes of staying up. Chelsea’s supporters moved away into the night, content that the gap between English football’s rich and poor still counts for something.